Speaker 1: Welcome to Gardening with Ben. You'll go to podcast for
all things green and growing in twenty twenty five. Whether
you're a seasoned gardener, a budding enthusiast, or just curious
about cultivating your own slice of nature, you're in the
right place. Join me Ben as we explore practical tips,
inspiring stories, and the latest trends in gardening to make
your outdoor space bloom with life, from a lotment adventures
to wildlife friendly gardening. I'm here to help you grow
your passion and read the rewards. So grab your gloves,
roll up your sleeves, and let's get started on this
year's gardening journey. Hey everybody, and welcome back to Gardening
with Ben. Yes, we're still alive. We're still here. And
I know I keep saying that I'll do these podcasts regularly,
and then I disappear again, and then I come back
again and with the neighbors. But yes, we are back
for a new podcast today. And it's nearly the end
of February. So there's no point doing my podcast on
what Plant in February as it's nearly at the end
of the month. But we shall do our podcast for
What's Plant in March coming up in the next few days,
so stay tuned for that. And we don't really start
sewing stuff until March. Anywhere. March is the main sewing time.
You're best off not sewing anything in February. You're best
off wait until it gets that little bit warmer and
reliable on things germinated. So where have we been, What
have we been up to? Why did we disappear? The
questions you may ask, But we have been obviously putting
more YouTube videos up. We've been putting quite a few
of those up at the moment, and one's just gone
up of a tour of my allotment, so you can
have a look around my plot, see what's growing and
what's not growing. We're going to a bit of detail
of what we're planning on doing on our allotment as
well this year, sharing some of the things what I've
got going off in my head on where i want
things to grow and how I want it to grow,
and just sharing with you how things are looking on
my plot at the moment. So make sure you're going
and check out that YouTube video what I've just posted.
We've also posted one about what free seeds you get
in the Grow your Own magazine this month as well
as that's one of my favorite magazines, the Grow your
Own Magazine and the Kitchen Garden magazine where it shares
ten three packets of seeds every month. I know it's
not free because you're paying six ninety nine, but it
feels like it's free and it's worthwhile to be honest,
because the packets are worth more than a pound each generally,
so you're getting your money's worth out of them. So
where have we been up to and what have we
been doing. Well, we've had a little trip to Manchester.
I needed a nice little break and that was to
go and see my favorite TV show, Neighbors, which the
day after I found out it was getting axed, So
I'm glad I went and saw that show in Manchester.
We also did a tour of Combination Street and I
met the famous Tracy Barlow, so yeah, that was very good.
She was a lot more nervous in real life than
I thought she would have been. I thought she would
have been a strong person, but yeah, she were very nervous,
but it was great to see her. And then yeah,
I just went and did a bit of touring around
the city. So what have we been up to on
our allotment recently. Well, we have been obviously keeping the
birds fed on a regular basis. I'm fighting with those
squibvels at the moment. I'm not happy at all. Every
time when I go down there's bird feeder missing and
I end up having to look all over my plot
for bird feeder. What's gone missing? The squibrels keep pinching
them and taking them down my plot, so thankfully I
keep finding them, so I've not had to buy anymore,
but they've chewed through some of them, so I've had
to replace my nut war way squirrel proof holders. So
they weren't that expensive, but hopefully they'll last down the
squirrels won't be able to chew fool them. But since
we've done that, the squirrels have now started winning my
shed where I storm my bird food and actually opening
up tupperware boxes and getting inside and eating the seed
and the nuts. You can't win, can you. I do
love to see the squirrel as well, but they're just
a bloody pain. So yeah, that has been our bird
update and our squirrel update. We're seeing the robins on
a regular basis. They're always around and we've seen quite
a few more blue tis as well now, so I'm
hoping that they do find the bird houses and they
do nest in them this year, because that will be
amazing to have the birds nesting on my allotment for
a third year in a row, and hopefully we'll be
able to get some footage of that if that happens.
So we've been doing that, We've been feeding the birds.
We have obviously also started a few things off from seed.
Like I said, it's best off waiting until next month,
but I got a bit too eager, and quite a
few people have commented on the pers saying you're too early,
You're too early. But I have method in my madness.
So I've started off some melons. What I've started growing.
I've potted them on because they have grown a bit leggy,
so hopefully this will survive and still be all right,
and have potted all them up. There's about twenty of them,
I think ten, fifteen to twenty maybe of them. We've
also shown all our melon varieties that we've got. We've
got six other varieties, so we're going to be inundated
with melons fingers crossed this year, which I can't wait
for because I absolutely love melons, absolutely gorgeous to taste,
and if we get some good crops, I'll be happy
with them, because melons are expensive as well to buy,
so I've done all them. We've also started off some
gig gigantic tomatoes. Now these are the biggest tomatoes ever
to be grown, and these were released in twenty twenty four,
so I'm hoping for some giant tomatoes. We won't be
growing those outdoors because they'll struggle to get ripen, but
we'll grow those in the polytunnel where it'll hopefully be
a lot hotter and we'll be able to keep it
out of them specifically, so we've started them off. We've
obviously also got as peppers growing as well. They're growing fantastic.
They're all potted up and they're currently sat in my
flat at the moment, so we're keeping them warm and
I'll take them down to the allotment probably in March
when it starts to warm up, because we don't want
to take them down there. Have a cold spell and
it killed them off. So we've got all them sown.
But next month is the vital month when I'll be
sewing all my seats. Literally everything will be getting sown,
so make sure he's stay tuned for that and missharing
the videos and the tips on that. So we've been
doing all that. We've obviously also been doing some repairs
to the polytonol. We've been getting that all in order.
Mind you, after today's wind, I might need to repair
it again. It might have actually blown away this time.
We are waiting for the day when it actually does
blow off and non repayable. But we keep on fastening
it back up and it keeps lasting another year. So
while ever I keep doing that, I'm happy with it.
And if it does ever come off my polytomol cover,
I'll just replace it with netting instead and have it
like as a cabbage frame type thing to stop butterflies
and stuff eating the cabbages. So I'll do it as
a Brassic cage if that does happen. So yeah, we've
been doing that. We've obviously been keeping the plot in tidy,
tidying it all up, getting it all in shape. I've
still got a lot to do. I've got on the
bed to tidy up and screw back together, get them
all painted, which is another job, but we won't do
that until spring comes, until it starts getting dry, because
we don't want to paint and then it just all
wash off again because it doesn't last long at all.
That would paint what you get by. It certainly doesn't
on my allotment, that's for sure. So we'll be painting
all them up and making them look nice. So yeah,
we have been very busy down at the plot in
recent times, and I'm prepping myself ready for that March
season because that's when all the gardeners rejoice. That's when
we all get happy. That's when we all start sewing
those seeds and going down visiting every day, seeing waiting
for that new life to come. Because that is the
reason why I say to do all these jobs on
your allotment that need doing any repairs, any maintenance, any
changes to it throughout the winter period because March onwards
you are busy with sowing the seeds, potting them on,
keeping on watered. That takes a lot of time up.
So that's why I use the winter period to get
my allotment turned over and get it all tidy ready
for the year ahead. So hopefully we will be back
with some more episodes. We won't disappear again. They might
not be as regular, but we'll start putting them out
there and doing a few more regular at least three
a week. We'll give it a try, as I do
know people like them and I have had messages off
people saying that they're missing them. So I am back
every so often. I just won't commit myself to doing
them for every day at the moment because it is
a hard job recording them and uploading them and stuff
like that. So yeah, I hope that you've enjoyed this episode,
And if you have not checked out my YouTube videos,
go and check them out because we're putting quite a
few YouTube videos up there now if you all to watch,
because I know people like to see the visual side
of things. It's okay me talking about what I'm doing,
but people like to see what I'm actually doing and
that I have actually gotten a lot but I'm not
just talking. But yeah, I hope that you enjoy the videos,
and if you're not following us on Instagram and Facebook,
give us a follow on there where we stay keep
you up there with pictures and sharing what we are
getting up to as well. So until next time, everyone,
remember keep smiling, keep shining and keep gardening with Ben. Everyone,
thanks for tuning in to today's episode of Gardening with Ben.
I hope you've enjoyed our chat and picked up some
tips to help your garden and allotment drive. Don't forget
to stay connected with me on all social media for
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next time, everyone, remember keep smiling, keep shining, and keep
gardening with Ben.